“Young Teen” Robs Petland Discount At Gunpoint

By Charles Rogers

Police are looking for a teenage boy who likes snakes and apparently check-ed the layout of the Petland Discount store at 2046 Rockaway Parkway a number of times before robbing it at gunpoint this week.

According to Sergeant William Herbert of the 69th Precinct Detective Squad, the youth, along with an older accomplice, entered the store at about 1:15 p.m. Monday, May 23, and announced the holdup, producing a black semi-automatic handgun. While the older youth — said to be in his early 20s — took the two employees into a back room and down into the basement where he taped their hands and feet and held them captive, the young teen rifled the cash registers and removed a ceiling surveillance tape.

“Both left after a few minutes,” said Herbert, “and they took the keys to the store with them.” He said the employees were able to get the duct tape off and called police within minutes after the robbers left.

“The employees said the young kid had been in the store a couple of times during the weekend, showing interest in buying a snake,” Herbert said. “Then he came in a couple of times Monday, before the robbery.”

Police said the employees recognized the younger thief as being the same person who robbed them on April 1 this year. The only description of the other robber was that he was wearing a black jacket and a black stocking cap.

Anyone with information is asked to call the detective squad at (718) 257-6215 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.